


Considerate

by ewitseva



Category: Subarashiki Kono Sekai | The World Ends With You, TWEWY - Fandom, The World Ends With You
Genre: AU, How Do I Tag, I Tried, M/M, My First AO3 Post, Spoilers, TWEWY Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-20
Updated: 2019-04-20
Packaged: 2020-01-20 16:11:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18528532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ewitseva/pseuds/ewitseva
Summary: In which Neku figures out he's a proxy.





	Considerate

Noise enveloped the area the partners were currently attempting to pass through. They slipped through sidewalk cracks and in front of their only exit to the alleyway. As always, Neku instinctively grasped for his pocket and pulled out all of his most valuable pins to use in the oncoming battle. Joshua sighed almost daintily as he flipped open his orange flip phone as the two walked towards the crowd of distorted animals (but not before Joshua commented teasingly that Neku was scared, which he refuted with annoyance).

The battle had been a short one, the two becoming more in sync and neither letting their guard down- Neku had to admit - they were an alright team. Neku stashed away his pins as they fell against gravity into his pocket. Joshua dropped to the floor with a thud. Sure, the Noise were easy and all, but that still didn't change the fact that Joshua still got pushed around a bit due to his power of underestimating even an easy target.

Joshua got up and dusted himself off, lazily placing his phone in his pocket as almost an afterthought. He turned to face Neku, twirling his ash blonde hair around his finger as per usual. His face was set to a troubled looking one.

"Hmm, what unnecessary trouble. I could've gotten hurt you know, and I don't feel like dealing with any of that," Joshua spoke in an irritated tone. Neku crossed his arms across his chest and glared at Joshua as if he was being an absolute smartass and with a look of  _you-have-got-to-be-kidding-me._

"Really, I guess it always is about you  _partner_."

"Honestly Neku dear, I wasn't undermining your amazing work out there, I'm just saying that getting hurt would be a pain for both me and you. Can't you see that I'm trying to be a good partner?" Joshua said back easily as he smirked at Neku's loud huff. The orange haired boy stuffed his hands into his pockets with anger and walked past Joshua in a tense composure without another word. Joshua just giggled gently and followed after Neku, the giggle vibrating off the graffitied walls of the alleyway. That damned giggle did always got on Neku's nerves and never would get out of his goddamn mind. But even more so that Neku could scan the prissy kid and that he knew something valuable about Neku's death.

It never made sense to Neku why Josh had these memories in the first place. Were they even real? Could they just be part of Joshua's deranged and nutty imagination? Or was there something Neku didn't remember? Neku didn't know and he couldn't figure out for the life ( _haha_ ) of him what was accurate and what wasn't. But he knew to some extent that getting his hands on Josh's phone might explain a few things and Neku could come up with a better understanding on his stance of trust with his partner. Trying to coerce the boy to give him the phone would be way too obvious and stealing the orange device did seem like his best plan of action, except for the fact that Joshua never let go of the goddamn thing and he always had it in his left hand pocket for safe keeping.

Plan ideas growing slim, Neku furrowed his eyebrows as the pair walked to the infamous Scramble. Since the partners hadn't received a mission for the day and Joshua made Neku agree to walk around for the rest of the day until the mission did appear. They were pretty much just wandering around Shibuya and sometimes entered a shop, much to Neku's displeasure.

"Neku, are you alright? You seem to be daydreaming," Joshua stated in their silence, but the question was quickly lost in the sea of voices. Neku looked to his side to see Joshua looking back at him. Why did he look so genuine all of a sudden? The concerned look he was giving the orange haired boy somehow unsettled him, seeing as he never looked at Neku in a way where he was so obviously apprehensive. Neku shifted his gaze to avoid the lavender eyes and looked towards the front of him. He had to anyways, if he didn't want to trample anyone.

"Um.. Yeah. I was just thinking. Why do you care?" Neku nonchalantly responded, adjusting his headphones to a more comfortable position above his ears.

Joshua continued to spiral his hair around a pale finger.  _Nervous habit?_ Neku thought to himself, but yet again, when did Joshua ever vent about his feelings to someone? He didn't seem like the type who would speak his woes to any person, even less to someone like himself.

The two continued to walk in somewhat comfortable silence as they headed for Dogenzaka for no particular reason, just for the sake of having somewhere to go and someplace to see. Neku had his mind on why Joshua was so nervous all of a sudden, not that he cared or anything. Yeah, he didn't care if the messy-haired boy was in such condition, he had recollection of Neku's last moments that he wouldn't spit out to him.

"Joshua, you look like someone took your phone. Something's up, right?" Neku announced to him after a while of walking casually down the busy street and now past the tall, gallant-looking dog statue. The ash blonde boy exhaled in response and peered at Neku with sincerity once again, making Neku return his gaze this time.  _Never knew a guy could have eyes of that shade of color.._

"Do you mind if we head back to the alleyway we fought those treacherous Noise in? I think I dropped something important to me back there and I wanna retrieve it. It doesn't concern you, so don't ask what it is," Joshua whispered into the air, fixing his collar anxiously. Neku gave him a simple crossed-arm shrug and headed back in the direction of the alleyway. What was this important object? Dammit, why did  _his_ partner have to be the biggest anomaly on Earth? Still, he felt kind of bad. Joshua looked as if he were going to burst if he didn't get this thing back. 

They, again, walked in silence back to the alleyway and nothing amiss happened on their journey there; maybe a few people eyeing them a little too closely as if they were visible, but everything went quite smoothly.

Neku walked slightly behind Joshua, dully looking around at the familiar pavement and crowds and buildings. The ash blonde turned into the alleyway with a sharp  _ffft_  as he stashed his hands in his pocket coolly, though his face was still very much fretful. Neku turned the corner almost a moment after and saw Joshua sprawled all over the floor looking for the item in question. Joshua was desperately tracing his fingertips under a large dumpster. That wasn't something you saw everyday. Neku almost snickered at the fact Joshua was doing something so frantically and in a rushed manner; he almost felt bad. Neku shook his head with a slight grin and walked to the area where they had been fighting all the Noise before. The worried face Josh made stuck in Neku's head, so he decided that instead of standing around, he might as well help his partner look for the damn thing. Joshua was looking in one designated area, and so Neku looked in the opposite direction. Lavender eyes narrowed as Neku did this but they looked away with fright again as they returned to scavenging for his beloved possession.

"I don't need your help Neku."

"That must suck for you, I want to help you. For once, you look like you give a damn, so I guess I can-"

Then Neku found it after a minute of searching. A bright orange flip phone under a dusty napkin, ready for the taking.

So that was what Joshua was looking for. Great, win-win for Neku; Neku got what he seriously needed and saw that Joshua had another emotion that wasn't arrogance and sass. Despite of himself, he grinned at his luck.

"You can what?" Joshua asked when Neku suddenly went silent. He didn't look his way, but that didn't matter. Neku had already concealed the phone in his pocket and shook his head.

"Nothing. It doesn't matter," was all Neku responded with. But it did matter. He was going to figure out what the hell Josh did on his phone and who he talked to whenever they woke up in the Scramble. Neku was deep in thought when Joshua spoke out again,

"It seems my item isn't here dear. I'm going to go looking for it. Meanwhile, why don't you go off and play? You sure do act like a child, so maybe playgrounds are your thing," Joshua said as he got up, his voice awfully demanding, a smirk on his face however. Neku noticed this and was getting a gut-feeling that Joshua was angry that he couldn't find his precious device. And honestly, Neku felt a tinsy bit intimidated, even if Joshua had just teased him. His smirk was probably a lie, but Neku couldn't tell.

"Unlike you, at least I don't lose things so easily and go boo-who when things get hard," Neku retorted to Joshua's statement. Joshua smirked more and flipped his hair out of his eyes, changing his posture from a stiff one to a more comfortable one.

"This banter is fun but I've got important things to do. I truly do need that thing back, and until I find, I'm not doing much else," Joshua remarked effortlessly as he walked past Neku. Before leaving the alleyway, he turned.

"Call me if you get lost dear, we wouldn't want a lost paper with your face plastered on it to be hung up on every lamppost in Shibuya, now would we?" Joshua quipped with a grin. He even clarified by patting his left hand pocket. Neku glared as he puffed out a shut up at him as Joshua turned back around, giggling, and getting lost in the crowd.

Neku smiled. Neku and Joshua knew that he was talking utter bullshit.

Still, Neku still couldn't understand why Joshua was faking his worry when it was so obvious he is. Was there even a reason? Maybe not, but Neku certainly wanted to know. Joshua always had a motive to do something.

He flipped open the orange phone.

It looked normal, perhaps the boring background could use some help, but it looked like any ordinary phone. Neku clicked a few buttons which got him to the phone contacts. First person in his contacts was someone named Hanekoma. Wait.

Neku blinked in confusion when he saw Mr. H's name on Joshua's phone. Since when did Hanekoma become buddy-buddy with someone like Josh? Weird.. And he's even that latest person to have a conversation with Joshua. And on top of that, Hanekoma was the only contact, besides a random string of numbers under his. Neku went into the text conversations.

_"Boss, are you sure you can do this? You might get in trouble with the Higher Planes.."_

_"You worry too much. I'm going to spend as much time with him as I please, living or dead. Besides, he is my proxy. I need to watch over him as if he were a sad puppy. Understood?"_

_"Jeez, you ARE seriously giving the kid a rough time."_

_";)"_

_"Your immature. Welp, guess I'll call you soon. Cya."_

_"By the way, I need to talk to you about something later; there's Noise at every angle right now though."_

_"Mkay."_

Neku looked at the texts with curiosity. It seemed Joshua or the phone had deleted all his texts from the previous day, whatever they had been. Convenient.

To be fair, Neku didn't find anything very suspicious about the texts, just that the fact Joshua was talking about a.. Proxy? And about him getting in trouble, that was a real kicker. He was doing something that he wasn't supposed to? Didn't seem far from Joshua, if Neku was going to be honest.

Neku searched through the entire phone, but besides a few selfies and pictures of himself and food, and a few missed phone calls, there was nothing else on the device that interested Neku. He angrily shoved the phone into his pocket and exhaled, irritated. Even if there was nothing useful now, there was bound to be a message from Hanekoma soon.

Then it hit him.

Neku eagerly flipped open the phone again and went straight to Hanekoma's messages. He had to roll his eyes when he began to text the barista.

_"Sorry, took longer than expected."_

Neku waited for a response, but didn't quite receive one until a few minutes later, when Neku had sat down against the wall. Neku clicked on the notification.

_"It's cool J. Anyways, what this you wanted to talk about?"_

Neku hadn't really been prepared to be asked this question straight off the bat, and he gazed at the message for a long while. He pressed his text out slowly and carefully.

_"Oh, I just wanted to talk about me."_

Neku cringed at the text. Even for Joshua, that was a bit too arrogant. He needed to try to be more.. Prissy. A text popped up a moment later.

_"Boss, we really shouldn't. This is your phone, and someone could steal it."_

Joshua was also the head of something if Hanekoma was calling him Boss, something Neku hadn't thought about. Joshua boss of Hanekoma though.. It seemed too unlikely. Hanekoma was chill, but certainly not the most lenient human being so he could be bossed around by a teenager. It was kinda funny; Mr. H had no idea who he was talking to.

_"That must be such a drag for you. Anyways, about the proxy. I want you to take a little quiz."_

Neku thought that was a bit more believable. Hanekoma responded,

_"Sure..?"_

Neku eagerly texted,

_"What's the proxy's name?"_

To be fair, it seemed like a nice place to start off. If he knew who the proxy was and what their role was with Joshua, maybe he could learn what the proxy was going through and see where that would connect the dots between the proxy and him. It was the only plan he could think of; all his other ones seemed to make him too obvious

_"Honestly Josh, you're going to give me a heart attack. Neku Sakuraba, 16 and an alright kid. Do I get an A+ Boss?"_

Neku looked at the text with eyes beginning to cloud over in shock. They were wide and seemed almost expressionless. He opened his mouth very slightly, breathing beginning to accelerate. He.. was the proxy? Neku shook with outrage as his hands balled themselves into tight fists, so tight that they already were becoming white. He didn't know what his role was as the proxy is, but it didn't calm him down one little bit. So, Neku was just a toy to Joshua? Was he that useless to the ash blonde boy? Neku got up and kicked the dumpster in anger, tightening the phone in his hand so it threatened to smash with too much pressure. Of course not, they were partners.  _Why do I feel so mad?! This is fucking insane, maybe it was an inside joke?_

Neku's denial didn't last long however.

"It's not nice to snoop around into other people's business Neku," said a voice delicately, but definitely with such force that Neku had somehow shivered. He gulped involuntarily. Why was he behind him now of all times? And of course he was smart enough to decipher the situation, the little fucker..

When Neku didn't move and stayed solid frozen, Joshua walked around him like a predator stalking his prey. Joshua came into Neku's frame of vision.

His eyes were full of annoyance and his eyebrows furrowed to their limits. He stood in front of Neku and crossed his arms, soon leaning in so that his face and Neku's were close enough to feel each other's breaths. This unnerved Neku but he couldn't help feel a soft heat of a red hue come onto his face. God, the world hated him. It always did.

"Give it to me Neku dear. Need not anything happen to you because of me, yes?" Joshua said, his voice still light and pristine but still with a forceful tone. Neku stepped back and seemed to come back to his senses as he grimaced, his eyes glaring at Joshua with intensity of a million suns. His blush evaporated in an instant and replaced with chili-red cheeks of anger. Joshua's eyes narrowed, his arms folded tightly onto his chest as he breathed slowly. The two seemed to be having a sort of stare-off. It lasted a few moments till,

"When that business is all about me, then I do think it has something to do with me. So tell me, if I'm a proxy, what the fuck is my role, hm?" Neku snarled at Joshua. Neku was very much offended that Joshua didn't see him as a partner but a doll.

Joshua didn't flinch, but he had to admit, he almost had. What are you to tell your proxy when they know that they're the proxy.  _Hanekoma is going to have a stern talking to.._ Joshua unfolded his arms and reached out with one, his palm open. He looked directly at the phone.

"Maybe I'll answer your question if you give me my phone."

"Why'd you even come back?!"

Joshua rolled his eyes, "I did need your help to open a wall, but that doesn't concern me anymore, so give me back my phone dear and we can move swiftly along."

"Sure, as if I'd give you my only source of information."

"Lying is quite shallow of even you Neku."

Neku started hissing, "I don't give a shit!"

Joshua sighed with annoyance growing. His patience was growing very slim.

"Stop acting like a child. Give me the thing already."

"In your dreams."

That was the last straw.

Joshua then made a movement towards Neku, so quick that the orange haired boy hadn't even seen him; didn't have time to react. He caught Neku off guard, and so Neku was easily slammed onto the graffitied wall of the alleyway. Sharp and sudden pain stung at the back of Neku's back and head. Joshua pinned his arms above his head and wrapped one of his hands around the blue eyed boys' wrists while the other one was placed inside a his back pocket. Neku grunted, then looked at him with astonishment, too confused to do anything. Neku felt powerless, and after he felt like punching Joshua in the face just a moment ago - right now - he couldn't move; He was paralyzed. The ash blonde boy tilted his head as a grin like the Cheshire Cat's was plastered onto his face. The orange phone fell to the floor and clacked softly. Lavender and blue eyes connected.

"Was it so hard to cooperate? Guess it doesn't matter; I got my phone back," Joshua giggled as Neku turned his head away from him and sneered as Joshua went on, "and I got to see your pretty little red face."

Neku now began to struggle in worry for himself, and Joshua not letting go meant that he was going to do something  _bad._ But Joshua's grip was firm and he smirked even more.

"Neku, you made me worry tirelessly for that phone, and for you to have had it all along. I'm quite irritated at you, so aren't you going to pay me back  _proxy_? For my woes and struggles?" Joshua voiced mischievously. He brought his hand out of his pocket and held Neku's chin, holding it in a way so that Neku was forced to stare at Joshua's lavender eyes.

Neku's heart was beating harder than it had before; It was like he was having a heart attack. His mind was racing with so many thoughts, questions, and things that he felt awestruck and dumbfounded. His legs grew weaker and he was almost glad that Joshua was holding his weight with his arm. Neku felt like static and he felt.. Fuzzy? All his feelings were completely jumbled, and it came out as silence. Neku took his sweet time to respond to the command (Maybe? Who would know..) that he had been given. Neku just tried to breathe normally; inhale and exhale, but it was difficult when a boy you hate with a passion was staring at you with such a look of vigor that it shocked you. Neku didn't even know Joshua all that well, for gods sake! Two days is not nearly enough time to harness feelings like those to bloom. Why would Joshua feel anything towards him, why would he be doing any of this? Joshua even used the word proxy in a way where it was taunting. Was he mad? Was he.. _Blushing_?

Neku felt the heat in his face rise up and the giggle brought him back to reality. That answered his question well enough.  

"You haven't decided, but I certainly have," and with that, Joshua leaned closer and pressed his lips to Neku's. Neku's mind flatlined when Joshua did, and he was feeling too many things for someone like him to be capable of. It didn't feel bad.. He didn't feel ashamed, he didn't feel a lot of anger anymore. He was much aware that Joshua knew something about his death, and that he was a proxy for something, but he remembered; enjoy every moment, CAT always said. Neku faltered his eyes shut and added pressure back.  _This is.. Weird._

Joshua grinned in the kiss, the surprising compliance Neku was giving him surely did make up for the phone thievery.

The two boys lips danced along each other, a spark sensation whenever they moved along with one another in unison. Of course, Neku had never been kissed before (much less from a guy), so Joshua guided him by grabbing his face, the touch gentle and the feeling warm. This made Neku blush harder, and Joshua grin a bit more. Neku stopped thinking altogether and Joshua did as well. It was as if all tension had dissipated into nothing. There was something so.. Enchanting about this moment and neither boy wanted it to be wasted.

The kiss got a little rougher when Joshua started licking at Neku's bottom lip and began pulling on it with his teeth. Neku's eyes widened, his mind spiralling at speeds he didn't think possible. As such, Neku didn't open his mouth. If this got anymore mature, Neku would probably explode with embarrassment. But he had to admit.. It felt oddly sweet. Joshua thought that another day to continue would be just fine, quickly making a mental note. Slowly, the ash blonde separated from Neku's lips. The two panted gently, indulging in what had just happened. Joshua leisurely released Neku's wrists as he stared at the orange haired boy, hands falling to his sides. His lips didn't falter from their upright position as he slipped his hands into his back pockets smugly.

Neku's red face was still present and he was still very inactive with the world; his ears were buzzing.

"You're so considerate Neku," Joshua said as he picked up his phone and tucked it away, and for once, he smiled genuinely. Neku smiled very slightly but turned his head away.

"I'm still mad at you asshole."

"And your still my proxy. Doesn't change anything," Joshua responded as he grabbed Neku's hand and walked out of the alleyway, Neku breaking out of his stupor.

Neku didn't allow himself to be dragged and released Josh's hand. Trust your partner, huh? Guess you would have to if they had just kissed you. Maybe it meant something? Neku erased the thought from his brain and continued walking. At least he learned something from the entire ordeal. 

They walked around again, this time closer together than they ever had. Joshua grinned. At least Neku didn't care he was a proxy anymore.

"Why'd you look so worried?"

The question had actually caught Joshua off guard. Joshua even had to take a few seconds to recover and respond. Noticing, Neku grinned gently in triumph. 

"I had a few photos on that phone  _you_ might've not of  _approved_ , so you seeing them would've been a catastrophe," Joshua responded without shame, and Neku gritted his teeth. There goes his happy little victory. He wished - for the first time - that Joshua was lying. He hadn't seen any of those photos, it had to be a lie! 

"You little bastard, I'm gonna-"

"Heh-heh. You really do look good in a Lapin Angelique dress dear." 

**Author's Note:**

> My first ever fic and post to AO3, so I'm so sorry if this sucked.. But anyways! Hope you enjoyed this little thing!


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